


A Not-So-Holy Monarch

by Silvertongue_turned2_Lead



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: for now i am openly ignoring The Plot so everyone's cool and happy for now, just loved the game so much i wanted to play around with the world and npcs myself, let me have this, oc-based fic, this is completely self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2020-06-28 10:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19810429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvertongue_turned2_Lead/pseuds/Silvertongue_turned2_Lead
Summary: A look into how a not-so-important vessel might live without any extraordinary powers or destinies to fulfill. This is totally a self-indulgent fic about my OC, but feel free to read it if you want!





	1. A Vessel Makes Their Escape

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder how disorienting it would be to move from a nebulous reality to a more singular existence?......

At first it was cold. A warm, comforting, familiar cold. It was the cold of a starless sky, where millions of stars still shone, surrounded by Their siblings, and left to Their peaceful sleep. But one day, the stars were lost. 

The cold grew less familiar, less comforting over time. As more stars were lost, the cold became more suffocating: a pressure that built and built until suddenly, in a tear of energy, the cold changed. It wasn’t just cold anymore. There were feelings beyond the cold. There were senses. There was pain, there was fear, and there was dread. The dread is what poisoned the cold into an invasive presence. 

It was dread and terror that made the Void aware of itself, although it wasn’t really the Void anymore. It was no longer a force, but rather a fraction of itself. The more the Void tried to reason what it was, the more its surroundings took form, and the more the dread grew. It was in a cage, a cave, a grave, a tomb. There was stale air which reeked of fear and regret, and there was no escape. The Void could not stay here, would not stay here. And so the Void began to move…

And the Void could not. Puzzled by it, the Void felt for the rest of itself, but there was nothing. What It felt was the pull of two arms and two legs, similar to what a humble bug may have. With that, the Void accepted that it was no longer the Void at all. It had been broken, cut away, separated from Itself, or rather, Its origin. A moment passed, and the tomb grew slightly colder for a moment before It began to use Its new form to move.

The task was not easy. Movement was slow, and uneven, and a struggle, but it was movement, and It was carrying Itself through the tomb, hunting for an exit. There were dead ends, and wrong turns, and retraced paths, but soon there was a climb. It was a desperate climb, but a methodical one. It climbed and clawed and scraped and soon, It was free. Free from the tomb and freed into yet another one.

It didn’t make a sound, just took a moment and then continued to climb. The climb was even harder than the first one, up and across uneven ground with teeth and creatures and gaps which would grab at It, willing It to fall back into the tomb below. The tomb would not claim It again, and so It continued to climb. The creatures were easily dodged, as they simply travelled their own path, paying no mind to the new presence in their dwelling. The teeth were more concerning, often keeping It from taking the easier path, and yet, It continued. 

There seemed to be no end to Its climb, but It kept going. What It had known had been ripped away, so the climb is what It must now know, and how It must now exist. There was only the Void that was not the Void, and the climb, and that was It. But then, the climb changed. The ground beneath Its feet was no longer a natural cold. The ground had become colder, harsher, and the ground sang with each step It took. The singing stopped when It stopped, and It stopped because the climb had ended. Once again, what It knew had changed. 

It stood in front of a gateway, one that stood open, and yawned into another tomb, but this one was different. This one had less dread, and the air seemed slightly less stale, and the sounds were not being swallowed by the gravity of Regrets. It was possible that it was not another tomb at all, but the climb still remained, and so It carried on, set to continue forward with the new thing that It knew.

It climbed.


	2. A Vessel is Discovered

The scratching of the Shadow Creepers harmonized with the scratching of his quill as he worked at the center of the ancient place he had found. Cornifer had based his life on exploring and chronicling the unknown and unexpected, and yet this kingdom continued to surpass even his, well, expectations. He chuckled at his own little joke, careful not to smudge over the tramway he had just added to his map. It would be a shame if he had to rescale the area just for a laugh at his own wit.

As he refocused on his work, he began to hum. It was an old tune, and one that he didn’t remember completely, but he just couldn’t get it out of his head, so there it stayed, waiting for its chance to escape his memory in his moments of routine. And so Cornifer sat in the small cavern he had taken refuge in, the various scratches and echoes and hums filling the chamber with a strange symphony. 

In fact, he was so enthralled within the strange orchestra he had joined that he almost didn’t notice the addition of a distant staccato. The crescendo of the newcomer’s erratic pattern caught Cornifer’s attention.

He stopped humming.

When all he could hear was the repetitive patterns of the Creepers, he thought he may have imagined it. Remembering his wife’s pleas for him to be cautious of his surroundings, Cornifer waited in silence for a few moments longer, worried that he may be in danger of something lurking in the depths. He almost let out a gasp when the noise returned.

It was still faint: a slow, uneven rhythm ending with a thud, like a wounded heartbeat.  _ Tap, tap.  _

_ Tap, tap. Thud. _

_ Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Thud.  _

_ Tap, tap…...tap, tap. _

Cornifer barely noticed that he had stopped breathing. It had grown steadily closer and sounded like it may be just a few lengths under his hideaway. While it certainly didn’t sound like a large threat, his travels had taught him time and time again that a bug’s appearance hardly guaranteed its nature or its intent. He thought of his brief time in the land known as Deepnest, and worried that a hidden beast was waiting in the shadows below.

Before he was lost to a whirlwind of conjured fears, his antennae twitched at a new sound from below. 

_ Sssssscritch. _

_ Sssscritch. _

_ Sscritch. _

_ Scritch. _

_ Pat. _

That surely couldn’t be the call of a shadowy predator? The sounds were so weak it was almost pitiable. The last noise sounded as soft as a mosskin’s abdomen. Carefully, and with as little noise as possible, Cornifer unearthed himself from his tools and creeped towards the opening of his cavern. Shaking slightly, he peered over the edge, only moving himself far out enough for a quick glance at the level below him, letting out a soft gasp when he caught it. 

It was his friend! Funny, he had already sold Them a map, so how had They managed to get turned around like this? Why were they not moving? Even though it was rather quiet down here, it was hardly a secure place to sleep. And what had happened to their cloak, or their nail….? 

“Oh my Wyrm,” Cornifer whispered. He quickly pulled himself up and retrieved his supplies, carelessly throwing them into his pack. Scampering back to the edge, Cornifer checked to see if the little one had moved. They had not.

“Oh dear, oh no,” Cornifer nervously muttered to himself as he climbed down to the still form. “Oh, you poor, brave, little bug,” he continued to chatter as he looked them over. Gently picking them up, Cornifer was surprised at how light they were. He stayed there, pack on his back, small bug cradled in his arms, and worried that he would have to find, or rather make, a final resting place worthy for their friend. He was so caught up in his mourning, he failed to notice that there were a few too many horns on their mask, and that the form was trembling in his embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure it would've been pretty hard to make it out of the abyss without any extra abilities. A climb like that would leave a vessel pretty exhausted I think...


	3. A Vessel Meets a Friend

When Cornifer finally realized that the bug was in fact, not dead, it had nearly scared the antennae off him. After carefully carrying what he had thought was a corpse back towards the alcove he had been working in, Cornifer had begun to dig. He supposed it was rather lucky, in a way, that his friend was so small. He would be able to bury Them without having to retrieve any tools, and, while the location was less than ideal, it would allow for the brave bug to rest, maybe even receive a visitor or two from the few other travelers They had certainly encountered on their journey. It was the least Cornifer could do for his silent friend.

Caught up in the morbid scene before him, he almost failed to catch the movement in his peripheral. When he turned, he was met with his friend sitting upright on the side of his in-progress grave, their two eyes piercing into him. Cornifer focused on the creature. Had he sat Them like that or….?

When the bug tilted its head, Cornifer choked on a shriek. 

“O-o-oh! My dear friend! You are alive! Oh, Wyrm, h-h-how you startled me. I was so worried! You were lying so still, and you seemed to have lost your cloak and your nail and, and, and...have you always had that many horns?” Cornifer pushed himself outside of the rather shallow pocket he had managed to carve so as to sit on the same level as the creature. Sure enough, when he started to better focus on the small bug, he was sure that this was not the small wanderer he had met so many times before. 

Where his friend had two prominent horns with small forks at their ends, this bug had six horns - two large horns near the top of their head that ended in sharp points, a short pair on the inside of the large pair, and yet another short pair near the bottom of their mask. Not only that, but Their eyes were a different shape, and sat at a slight slant on their face. How in Hallownest he had failed to notice the differences before, Cornifer didn’t know, especially since he prided himself on his observational skills.

As the initial shock of his dead friend (who was not actually his friend, and who was not actually dead) passed, Cornifer had been sent into a new spiral of questions. 

If they’re not his friend, who are they? Are they related? Surely they must be, since the two bugs looked so similar that he had mistaken the stranger as the other wanderer? Did his friend know that their kin was here? How could he let his friend know that he had found their family? What if they  **weren’t** family, or what if, Wyrm forbid, they were enemies and he had inadvertently helped a bug who was going to kill his fellow traveler?

The thoughts had quickly twisted into the fantastical, like something a young bug would hear from a moth’s tale. Deciding that the best option would be to make his way back to the relative safety and quiet of Dirtmouth where he could better look after the creature, the racing thoughts were silenced. He must’ve been lost in thought for a while, since the creature had fallen to its side, and seemed to have fallen asleep, curled in on itself not unlike a baldur.

Recognizing that this bug must have gone through a great ordeal to be so thoroughly exhausted that he had mistaken Them as dead, Cornifer let Them rest, settling down to return to his cartography, glancing at the prone bug every now and then, as if They would disappear if he looked away for too long. And so, after a brief adjustment period, Cornifer had unexpectedly acquired a travelling companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations, Cornifer, you're a dad now.


	4. A Vessel Begins to Learn

He planned on setting off after the new bug had woken up, deciding that he could always come back later to finish his maps. For now, he wanted to make sure that the little one was introduced to a safe place before anything else. That and, of course, he missed his wife, who was sure to give him an earful for being gone for so long.

Quickly looking over his own work to choose the shortest path home, Cornifer traced a line on one of his spare maps to layout their journey. As he was doing so, he remembered he wasn’t alone anymore, and that he should start voicing his thoughts out loud. 

“Well, friend, are you ready?” He glanced over at the bug, who was staring off into the space beyond the alcove. Pausing from stuffing another scroll into his bag, Cornifer waited for a response. When the bug didn’t give one, he efficiently finished his packing before moving to sit by the creature. 

“Little one,” he sighed. “Do you know where you came from?”

He was finally met with their gaze, blank eyes yawning from their mask, but no other sign that They might know how to answer. 

“Do you...have a home?” Still no answer.

“Well, friend, if you don’t know where you came from and you don’t know where to go, would you like to accompany me? I’m no warrior myself, but I’ve charted most of this kingdom now, and I would be more than happy to show you around.” At this, the bug finally looked away, looking down into their own lap for a moment. They seemed to be thinking rather hard, but it was only a minute or so before They looked back at Cornifer and reached up one of their hands, pointing past his head. 

“Up?” Cornifer guessed at the meaning of the pantomime. The bug bent their whole body over, and returned to pointing as they straightened up, which Cornifer guessed was their approximation of a nod.

“Yes, little one, I will be travelling up. I live waaaay up beyond these caverns and where there’s fresh air, and no husks, and a small, cozy village all on its own.” Yes, Cornifer thought to himself, it was not so bad a place to live at all, and the calm would help his nerves regarding this whole situation immensely. Sighing wistfully at the thought of home, he refocused on the bug beside him. 

“So, my friend, are you interested?”

.....(||||){ * }(||||).....

While it had certainly been an adjustment, Cornifer had grown fond of the new bug at his side. Similar to his other wanderer friend, they were not gifted in the art of conversation, but hearing the soft pad of footsteps answering his own was a nice change to his solo travels. Plus, it was a delight to share the wonders of his previous discoveries with a new soul. The ingenuity of the Royal Waterways which allowed the rain from the urban landscape above to avoid flooding and the brilliance of the architecture of the City of Tears with its somber and mysterious memorial at its center was something he thought every bug should get the chance to behold.

It had taken longer than he remembered to get through the Royal Waterways, but he chalked it up to having come through there a different way than how he was trying to cut through them now. The ambient light was terrible for reading, so a few wrong turns were made before his companion pointed out an exit, through an open sewer grate of all things, that was above their heads. Thanking them, he hoisted the little one up through the grate before climbing up himself.

They had made it to the City of Tears, as evidenced by the sound of the persistent rainfall. Satisfied with their progress, Cornifer took a moment to rest, not noticing that the little bug was wandering off in the direction of the main square. He was rearranging his pack when he was assaulted with an array of ice-cold droplets. 

His friend had returned from the square, completely soaked, and had shaken themselves like a frightened mosskin to rid themselves of the moisture. Just as quickly as They had returned, the creature left once again to go out into the rain. Cornifer watched as his new friend entered the downpour, stood in the rain, and then trotted back over to him….

“Now, hold on just a mome-” The rainwater coated his glasses. Sighing like a long-suffering patriarch, he removed his glasses and wiped away the splatter. When he replaced them, he was surprised to see the bug had left yet _again_ for the rain outside and Cornifer began to, somewhat frantically, stand up so as to better avoid the next oncoming liquid onslaught. Or, at the very least, to keep his glasses from getting coated again. 

When the little bug didn’t return right away, Cornifer headed over to the doorway to better see what they were up to. Sure enough, there was his companion, in the middle of what Cornifer had assumed to be a public square, moving back and forth between the various puddles in the pavement, eyes focused on their own feet as they did so. Very carefully, as if the puddle were alive, the small bug gently pressed one of their feet into the water. Jumping away from it, the bug looked at their foot, then back to the puddle, and then back at their foot, in what Cornifer assumed was a quick mental calculation of the effects of rainwater on one’s self.

Seemingly satisfied with the results, the bug jumped into the puddle, sending out a large splash, and began tapping its feet in the water. The sight was incredibly endearing. It made Cornifer wonder if his other friend had had a similar reaction to the city’s infamous climate. Chuckling to himself at the idea of two little wanderers splashing about, he didn’t notice how his friend had focused on the memorial statue, their puddle-splashing abandoned.

Unbeknownst to Cornifer, the little vessel began to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> long chapter that's long overdue. hopefully i will continue to work on this soon ;A;


	5. A Vessel Becomes Curious

It had been a hard task managing to corral his friend out of the rain and had left the both of them soaked. Luckily, Cornifer’s pack was waterproofed for this exact reason, but he nervously checked on the status of his maps and scrolls nonetheless as the little bug played in the small puddle that had formed under them from the water dripping from their form. 

_ I’ve never seen a bug so fascinated with water before _ , Cornifer thought to himself. “Maybe I should call you Waterbug, little one.” His friend didn’t respond, but their splashing was less enthusiastic as they tilted their head. The non-verbal confusion was clear. Cornifer chuckled.

“You remind me of someone else, you know. So quiet! They haven’t given me their name either, but I’m sure you both will, in your own time. Maybe I will even be able to introduce you to Them along the way. I met Them wandering this kingdom as well.”

The splashing had stopped completely while he had been talking, and unblinking eyes were trained on him when he finished. The bug glanced behind them at the square before looking at Cornifer and pointing above their head.

“Up? Are you ready to go now?”

The vessel bent at their waist until their horns nearly touched the floor before bending back up. 

“Yes, you’re ready?” Cornifer found himself subconsciously nodding as he asked his companion. Seeing this, the bug began furiously nodding their head up and down, mirroring the motion he had made.

“Alright then, let me pack up and we can continue our journey.” 

Maps and scrolls safe and dry in his pack, Cornifer began to lead the way up through the city. One of the nicer perks of the place, other than its unique environment, were the numerous elevators that climbed throughout the City of Tears. It was what had made his first trip there so easy and was still by far the most straightforward of his travels.

As the pair took elevator after elevator, quickly ascending through the city, Cornifer allowed his friend to take charge of their journey. While there were certainly still husks roaming the area, Cornifer was able to tuck himself and his friend away until the dangers passed, and they could carry on. Other than those moments, he was more than happy to let the little one walk ahead of him, and to watch as they took in their surroundings.

He watched as their attention would be grabbed by small trinkets, details, the odd husk or two, and any other oddity the abandoned capital city displayed in its ruin. However, no matter how intrigued the little bug seemed to be, it always refocused on moving along on their journey upward. It was a fascinating pattern to watch, Cornifer thought. He and his companion would climb and climb and climb, only for Them to suddenly dart away, mask focused intently on a discarded journal, or a buried nail, and then to just as suddenly return and fervently scamper up a landing, as if They were worried that Cornifer might leave them behind in their ascent.

Or at least, that’s how Cornifer saw it, since he hadn’t bothered to ask the bug what their intent was.

He didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with idle chatter, and with such a single-minded travelling companion, they quickly climbed to the heights of the city, reaching the areas he had first explored. In what seemed to be no time at all, Cornifer and his new friend had made it all the way from his newly charted discovery to a fair distance beyond the midway point to his home. Given the determination to reach the surface that his companion showed, it was no wonder they had travelled so relatively quickly; however, his body was aware of the quick time they had been making too.

“Little one, why don’t we rest a bit? I’m sure you are feeling some fatigue yourself after our travels. Even with the elevators, we’ve covered quite a lot of ground today.”

The bug, halfway through pulling itself up yet another platform, paused at Cornifer’s suggestion. Briefly glancing up, They gently dropped down, and headed toward the cartographer. Cornifer, pleased that his friend had agreed to rest, began to settle down. He slowly eased his body onto a more comfortable part of the ground, and, still mindful of his precious cargo, rested against his pack. When the small bug reached him, They plopped down with a soft  _ thud _ , and seemed to instantly doze off in a slouch. Cornifer thought it looked awfully uncomfortable, so, before he rested himself, he gently moved his friend onto the ground, where They soon curled up and were lost to sleep.

Since they hadn’t seen any husks in the area, Cornifer soon followed suit, the two bugs finding a moment of peace while the eternal rain droned in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> real life really do make me forget to update WIPs tho.......


End file.
